


How Deep Is Your Love

by bellwetherr



Series: You & Me [1]
Category: The Last Kingdom (TV), The Warrior Chronicles | The Saxon Stories - Bernard Cornwell
Genre: F/M, Kissing at Midnight, Love Confessions, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25321789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellwetherr/pseuds/bellwetherr
Summary: Inspired by this prompt from #TLKFFF: Sihtric, Sihtric takes his wife for a moonlight stroll.Dreams and promises and long walks in the moonlight.
Relationships: Ealhswith/Sihtric (The Last Kingdom)
Series: You & Me [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835563
Comments: 18
Kudos: 20
Collections: The Last Kingdom Fanfic Fest





	How Deep Is Your Love

It was a distinct kind of chaos that rippled through the upper levels of the inn, the hallways overrun with warriors and priests and men lucky enough to earn the right amount of silver to grant them access to the women upstairs. At any given moment, one could find a half-drunk, half-hard patron wandering, searching for the right room, slurring his need for a warm bed, a warm body, a warm mouth. Ealhswith hated this hour of the night, when the men were done accosting the barmaids downstairs and intended to try their luck with the women at the top of the inn.

But it paid well.

Well enough that Ealhswith could easily slip into the proper performance when necessary- whether that be the affectionate, subservient lover or the demeaning dominate, the sultry seductress or the innocent virgin, and sometimes, when it was one of the priests in Alfred’s court, the kind of woman who stayed silent and still and let the man do what he must, because he always paid for the extra hour and even though he was never gentle, he never made her play a part. 

Ealhswith lingered near the window, perched against the sill as she watched a young couple embrace, the light of the flames of a nearby torch flickering against their bodies and creating warped shadows along the cobblestoned street. It was a cool night and there was a draft slipping through the cracks but she did not mind it, her body warm and wasted from her last visitor. She brushed back a sweat-dampened tendril, twisting it behind her ear as she let her eyes flutter shut, her head tilted back against the wall. 

But her peace lasted only moments before there was a rough bang at her door-

“One more, Ealhswith-”

She gathered herself and stood, adjusting her flimsy linen smock as she stole a glance in the mirror above her dressing table. Her hair hung in wild curls around her shoulders and her cheeks were still flushed a slight pink. She shook her head. It was messy but it could work. She rubbed her fingers underneath her eyes, wiping away any residual charcoal, before working at the ties of her smock and adjusting her breasts beneath the fabric. She felt a yawn threaten to pass through her lips and she smacked at her cheek as she tried to wake herself up. 

“Sihtric?”

Ealhswith hovered in the doorway, one hand resting flat against the wall as she considered the Dane that stood before her, and the small bouquet of wildflowers in his grasp. She had mentioned once how much she loved them and with each visit following, without fail, he would show up with a little bundle of whatever he could find outside the gates of Winchester and she would place them in a vase near her bed as a reminder of what existed beyond the walls of the inn.

“You are a surprise,” she said, a lilt of laughter to her tone.

“The King requested a meeting of the Witan,” he told her and a smirk tugged at his lips. “I am meant to be tending to the horses.”

“Will you tend to me, instead?” she asked, playfully. 

“I will do anything you’d like,” Sihtric replied and the earnest nature of his response brought a flutter of something unusual to her chest, Ealhswith pressing her palm against her chest as her features softened.

“I would like to walk.”

\--

The streets of Winchester were quiet and peaceful as they wandered and Ealhswith let her lungs fill with the cool night air. The wool of her dress kept her warm enough and it felt good to be outside, to smell something other than sour ale and sex. She wrapped her arms around her body, her hands idly rubbing against her shoulders as she spared the Dane beside her a glance. He walked with his hands clasped behind his back and she could not ignore the contour of his muscles in his sleeveless tunic and the way his leather armor clung to his chest. Nor could she disregard the slight nicks and scars that lingered in his skin and the way they shone even in the moonlight. 

She tried to pretend each scar came from battle, from his fights alongside his Lord Uhtred. But she knew all too well of the Dane’s history, and the dark secrets he shared with her while they lay tangled in bed. She knew that some were from his father and the pain he endured as a child. 

It worried Ealhswith that she knew so much of him, nervous that she would grow too attached- a mistake she had made once in her earliest days at the inn, falling for a customer who had been charming and careful- who had promised her the world and then never saw her again.

But then she thought of the flowers sitting beside her bed and knew that she had already passed the point of no return. It was not just that the flowers reminded her of what was beyond Winchester, it was that they reminded her of Sihtric, of her sweet Danish warrior and the way he touched her and held her and made her feel like she was something more.

“You are quiet this evening,” she said, growing tired of her own thoughts.

“I am thinking,” he replied simply.

She huffed a breath with a narrow of her brow. “Of what?”

“You,” he said, daring to look at her out of the corner of his eye. 

There was a hint of something playful flickering across his face that surprised her and she laughed, her hand whacking gently at his arm. He was quick to catch her wrist, drawing her close to him, and Ealhswith’s breath caught in her throat as he pressed up against her. She had been kissed one thousand times before but never like Sihtric kissed her, the way his lips felt against hers enough to draw a sigh, her hands pressing against his chest as his hand cupped gently at the nape of her neck, fingers tangling in her unbound hair.

“I missed you,” he said after a moment, his forehead resting against hers. 

“Does Coccham not yet have a whorehouse?” she teased, knowing full well what he meant and choosing to ignore it. 

“I have been with no one else,” Sihtric continued. “There is only you, Ealhswith.”

She felt a jolt of something in her belly and she shook her head. 

“You know I cannot say the same,” she said sharply, shaking herself from his hold. 

She took unsteady steps away from him, trying to shake the feel of him against her as she tilted her head back to stare up at the night sky. She could not hear such soft words, could not let him make her promises she knew he could not keep. 

“And if I told you I love you?” he asked.

She rubbed her hands against her face, her chest feeling tight as she turned back to face him.

“I would say you’re a fool,” she challenged. “You cannot fall in love with a whore.”

Sihtric stiffened as if she had slapped him, his hands falling to his sides as his shoulders sagged. He looked so young as he stood there in the moonlight and it was exactly then that she realized she loved him, too- that she loved him desperately and that in the quiet moments when she allowed herself some peace, she dreamed of a life together in Coccham. But what had dreaming ever accomplished?

“Then I am a fool,” he shrugged. “It does not matter to me- I still feel the same.”

“What good does that do, Sihtric?” she asked, exasperated. “I cannot leave the inn-”

He stepped toward her, closing the space between them once again, resolve settling into his features as he gripped her shoulders with both hands. “Yes, you can. I have saved my silver.”

Ealhswith blinked, his words not quite registering.

“Say that again,” she whispered, her breath coming out in light wisps in the cold.

“You will be free,” he told her.

She felt her stomach flip at the word, her fingers flexing at her sides as she studied Sihtric’s face, trying to gauge the truth in his declaration. She was so used to playing pretend it was hard for her to understand what might be real. She reached for him, her fingers brushing gently against his cheek, as she reminded herself that the man standing before her had been the only truly remarkable thing in her life for the past several moons. 

“Do you promise?” she asked and she cursed the catch in her voice when she spoke.

“I do,” he said and his hands shifted from her shoulders to cup the sides of her face. “I have thought about this. I have dreamt about being able to take you home with me. I want to give you the life you deserve.” 

“No matter what I am?” 

“What you are is my future,” he said, the fervor in his voice leaving her breathless.

And even though she was scared out of her mind, she believed him.

She believed in the passion behind his voice and the idea that she would soon be free of Winchester overwhelmed her with affection. Ealhswith wrapped herself around him and pressed her lips against his. As if he had been waiting for this moment, he gripped at her waist, Sihtric steadying them both as their lips parted and the kiss deepened. She could feel the way he loved her in his embrace, the way his hands held her tightly, his fingers tangling in the fabric of her dress, as if the wind would sweep her away if he were not careful. 

“I love you, too,” she breathed.

It was not the first time she uttered those words, sometimes the performances she put on in the bedroom feeling all too real, but it was the first time those words made her feel alive and happy and whole. 

**Author's Note:**

> It's official, I love writing Ealhswith. I hope you guys liked this short little guy. It's been fun to imagine their history together since the show gives us NOTHING. 👀


End file.
